*Mark Hendrickson has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He was informed on Monday that he would not be making the Orioles’ Opening Day roster and will now be part of the Tides’ bullpen.

*Justin Duchscherer suffered a setback when his back tightened up while at a workout on Thursday. He said it’s “definitely related” to his hip injury, which is the reason he’s on the disabled list. Duchscherer was targeting April 21 as his return and it’s not known if this will change that just yet. He saw a local chiropractor yesterday and manager Buck Showalter said Duchscherer could go visit with the doctor who operated on his hip last year.

“It’s a little frustrating for him,” Showalter said of Duchscherer. “He thought he has turned the corner a little bit. Hopefully he has. Hopefully the next day or two it will quiet down and we’re back on the bicycle again. But we knew it was going to be a challenge back when we signed him. We’ll continue to go down that road and see if we can get him there.”

*That’s also the date Zach Britton can rejoin the team and not get a full year of service time.The way it’s set up right now Britton is on schedule to pitch April 20 in Triple-A. That’s another thing to keep an eye on these first few weeks.

*Showalter said giving Sunday’s start to Chris Tillman over Brad Bergesen was mostly because the team feels Tillman can give them a longer start.

“He’s equipped to go longer pitch-wise, if you look at Bergy the last two times out, yesterday was a two inning stint the time before was a four pitch stint,” Showalter said.

“Plus I think he’s a little probably better suited to pitch out of the pen a little bit. I think Tillman’s ready to go 100 [pitches] if Tampa lets him, more that than anything else.”

The team decided to keep Bergesen rather than send him to Triple-A because if Monday’s game gets rained out the Orioles will play fives games in a row and need that extra starter.

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